FOREIGN investors returned to Bursa Malaysia last week (week ended Feb 17) by mopping up net purchases of RM195.3 mil – the first in five weeks.
Prior to that, foreign investors have been net selling for five consecutive weeks with the net outflows amounting to -RM860.9 mil.
“Every trading day last week was a net buying day by the foreigners except Friday (Feb 17) which saw an outflow of -RM25.9 mil,” observed MIDF Research in its weekly fund flow report. “Year-to-date (YTD), foreign investors have net sold -RM593.3 mil of the Malaysian equities”.
The highest amount of net inflow came on Wednesday (Feb 15) to the tune of RM103.2 mil with Thursday (Feb 16) being the second highest at RM74.4 mil in terms of net buying.
The sectors that saw net foreign inflows last week were healthcare at RM56.5 mil, construction (RM41.6 mil) and financial services (RM40.2 mil) while sectors that saw net foreign outflows were plantation (-RM18.8 mil), utilities (-RM12.4 mil) and property (-RM6.4 mil0.
On the contrary, local institutions net sold -RM140.2 mil worth of Malaysian equities after five consecutive week of net buying.
Only Tuesday (Feb 14) posted a net inflow of RM16.2 mil while the rest of the week recorded outflows. The heaviest outflow was seen on Wednesday (Feb 15) at -RM53.2 mil. YTD, local institutions have net bought RM819.8 mil.
Likewise, local retailers were also net sellers last week to the tune of -RM55.1 mil, a sharp reversal from their RM263.8 mil of net buying during the week ended February 10. Only Monday (Feb 13) and Friday (Feb 7) saw net inflows of RM7.0 mil and RM40.1 mil respectively. YTD, local retailers were net sellers at -RM226.6 mil.
In terms of participation, there was a decrease in average daily trading volume (ADTV) among local retailers (-14.9%), local institutions (-16.0%) and foreign investors (-12.3%).
In comparison with another four Southeast Asian markets tracked by MIDF Research last week, Thailand recorded the biggest foreign fund inflow with US$46.4 mil followed closely by Malaysia (US$44.6 mil) while Indonesia saw the biggest outflow with US$91.0 mil followed by the Philippines (US$22.4 mil) and Vietnam (US$20.0 mil).
The top three stocks with the highest net money inflow from foreign investors last week were Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) (RM79.8 mil), Gamuda Bhd (RM41.9 mil) and Hartalega Holdings Bhd (RM24.8 mil). – Feb 20, 2023
